Divorce

The personal and financial impact of a divorce is bad enough. It can be made much worse when you realise that divorce court judges see the world in a very different way to business owners and entrepreneurs. A divorce must not be allowed to damage the health of the family business where it needs to produce either future income or capital to meet the family’s needs. Judges can struggle to understand a family business owner Many divorce judges presume that business owners get up in the morning and go out to work and are guaranteed to make money. If only that were true! Family law judges often struggle to understand business risk, funding issues and the real liquidity of...

On separation and divorce would you spend thousands of pounds on a bet to gamble the future of your children or your financial settlement on the toss of a coin? That’s what you do in a divorce court. Why do separating and divorcing couples who are otherwise careful, cautious and conservative decide to spend so much money gambling on the outcome of their divorce settlement about money and property? How are you turned from being sensible into a reckless gambler? You think your offer is good. You think your spouse’s offer is wrong. You issue court proceedings and go to trial to let a judge decide. You may as well toss a coin since it is cheaper and quicker. And just...

“Nobody wins. One side just loses more slowly than the other”, wrote Dennis Lehane the writer of the highly regarded and successful hit US series The Wire. This is never more true than in the divorce court system when contested court proceedings are used to decide disputes over children or money. Perhaps only lawyers gain. Constructive divorce with dignity – not destructive court battle Yet it is the divorce lawyers who are dissatisfied with the court process who have created collaborative family law for separating and divorcing couples. Collaborative family law is for families who want to divorce with dignity and mutual respect. It is a constructive way of...

If you live in Cambridge then usually you would file a divorce petition in The Family Court at Bury St Edmunds at Triton House, St Andrews Street North, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP33 1TR. Most divorce petitions in the south east of England, including London are issued at Bury St Edmunds. The court staff are renowned for being approachable, knowledgeable and friendly. Whilst they are not allowed to give legal advice they can explain the procedural steps and provide free copies of court forms (tip: no need to pay for them online!) or Click Here to download them here for free. For example a divorce petition is called FormD8 and can be found here and downloaded by...

For people who live their professional life in the glare of the media spotlight then there are real fears of their very personal and private life being exposed to the voracious scrutiny of the tabloids. When such a person is having a divorce or separation then the media can turn private grief into a disastrous tabloid feeding frenzy. The knock-on effects are not given any thought by the media or public. How can they be protected? It is typical that the star’s children will be shown the tabloid headlines in the school playground tomorrow morning and taunted with the gory details of the alleged (and often inaccurate) shortcomings of their Mum or Dad. Children naturally...

We know from the research that children are not harmed by the fact of their parents separating and divorcing. The real harm to children is caused when the understandable differences between separated parents turn into ongoing disputes and arguments so that the conflict is allowed to continue unresolved. Children are not harmed if you give them your approval to see the other parent So what should parents do? Firstly, children need reassurance that both parents love them. The next tip comes from the highly respected psychologist and researcher Judith Wallerstein carried out research with children whose parents had separated and she followed them over a long period of time...